Win puts Mahan into Ryder Cup talk

PARAMUS, N.J. -- John Wood was in a hurry, the golf bag on his shoulder, the cheering still going behind him at Ridgewood Country Club, looking like a man who wanted to beat the rush out of the parking lot.

Nope, the urgency was about getting to the 18th green. He wanted to retrieve the flagstick, a caddie custom to take as a souvenir when your player wins a golf tournament.

"It's been awhile," Wood said smiling, referring to the victory drought endured by his long-time loop Hunter Mahan, who captured the Barclays on Sunday.

Sure, it vaulted Mahan to the top of the FedEx Cup standings, likely to elicit cries about how a guy who has been on virtually nobody's radar all year could suddenly be leading the points race (he had been 62nd) that will pay the winner $10 million.

But perhaps even bigger to Mahan, it was his first victory in more than two years. He won for the first time since leaving the Canadian Open last summer with the 36-hole lead to be with his wife, Candace, for the birth of their daughter.

And, of course, it put him in the U.S. Ryder Cup team discussion.

"I had a feeling. I had a feeling it was coming today," said Wood, who has worked for Mahan since 2006 -- and through every single FedEx Cup playoff event dating to the first one in 2007. "He's been doing everything right since Akron [the WGC-Bridgestone]. And he finally started making some putts.

"He's shot a couple of good scores but not quite as good as he could. But this week he did. Could have been even lower. He's hitting the ball like he used to hit it, like he did at the beginning of the year. Sean has been incredible. And one little thing in Akron, he strengthened his grip a touch and everything came right back."

Sean would be Sean Foley, known much more -- and criticized incessantly -- for his work with Tiger Woods. Foley also instructs Justin Rose, and the duo have been firm in support of Foley. Earlier in the week, Mahan even took to defending his instructor.

"It's comical," he said of the criticism. "And most likely [coming] from people that have no idea who Sean Foley is and what he's doing and obviously no one knows Tiger, so you're not getting anything there."

What Mahan knows is that Foley has helped him become a top-notch ball-striker, a quality that has been missing in his game for most of the year. He started to see signs of progress last month at the Open Championship, got the grip tweak at the Bridgestone and now has his sixth PGA Tour victory.

And coming off a tie for 15th at the Bridgestone and a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship, all of a sudden Mahan has to be prominent in the discussion for one of captain Tom Watson's three at-large picks on Sept. 2.

Of those who made the U.S. team so far, the last to win was Matt Kuchar in April. The idea of the captain's picks is to tab someone who is hot. So far, with one event to go, Mahan looks like a guy fitting that definition.